Inexpensive Atom-Powered 'Netbooks' Popular at Launch

[gkarris]

With economic conditions worsening, Apple better do something with its prices across the board.

Drop the price of the basic MacBook to $799, updated Mini to $499, and the basic iMac to $899 for starters... and come out with a sub-note for $599...

 

[TraceyS/FL]

I'd buy 2, maybe 3.

The kids ned something portable like this - and it would solve a lot of issues for me.

My oldest is using my old 12" iBook - nothing that this machine wouldn't handle. Watch some video school classes, type some papers and browse World book. I don' even need iLife on it - iWork will be fine, and Quicktime Player and an N net connection.

Yup, this is all i need - and it's portable.

I have one Mini to drop into the kids needs next May, i'd love another option for them.....

In fact, i'm not tempted by any Windows box right now - but that one Arn linked to on Amazon, that is just what i need. UGH. NO NO NO windows!

 

[MojoWill]

if apple release a netbook at a competative price to compete with the eee etc then I will buy one straight away the mac-book air is pointless prodcut it is too big to compete with these plus wayyyy to expensive and not powerful enough to be a real notebook replacemebnt

 

[Marx55]

APPLE, PLEASE, MAKE THIS!

Next Apple moves will be Books and Games…
http://spidouz.wordpress.com/2008/09/03/next-apple-moves-will-be-books-and-games

Small form factor (5-inch screen or so) like this:

OQO model e2
http://www.oqo.com

And 500 g or so. Even the MacBook Air is too large and too heavy for us. And we need the full Mac OS X inside (not just OS X) so that full NATIVE Keynote and PowerPoint files can be open for full blown presentations with transitions, animations and video, as done now with laptops.

Both wired and wireless. With true Ethernet port. With true Firewire ports (Target Disk Mode for repairs, camcorder video in, etc).

WE NEED THOUSANDS FOR OUR UNIVERSITY AND WE NEED THEM NOW!

Thanks!

 

[Col127]

that would be amazing! who can compete with $399 laptops?

CultofMac reports on the relative popularity of recently introduced "Netbooks" from Asus, Acer and Dell. Amazon's top laptop sales list is now dominated by the $400-$600 devices, with Apple's $1299 MacBook being the notable exception in the top 10.

Netbooks refer to a class of laptops that are small-sized, low cost, light weight and optimized for internet usage and word processing. While versions of these laptops have previously existed, Intel is once again pushing this form factor with the recent release of the low-powered Atom processor. These Netbooks typically have 9-10" screens and can cost as low as $329. Analysts believe that a large part of their popularity is due to their lower costs during worsening economic conditions. It has been suggested that Apple may drop the price of the upcoming MacBooks to try to counter this trend.

It has also been rumored that Apple will eventually adopt Intel's Atom (formerly "Silverthorne") processor in an upcoming device. While talk of an Apple sub-notebook has died down since the release of the MacBook Air, at least one analyst expects that Apple is still planning on another sub-notebook.

Article Link

 

[quadgirl]

if apple release a netbook at a competative price to compete with the eee etc then I will buy one straight away the mac-book air is pointless prodcut it is too big to compete with these plus wayyyy to expensive and not powerful enough to be a real notebook replacemebnt

The Macbook Air is targeted at a totally different sector. It's not to big for it's target; it's thin and will slip into a businessman's briefcase. The user needs the larger screen and a full sized keyboard.

The Macbook Air is NOT a netbook.

 

[uGOofBLUEm]

Acer Aspire One

I just bought an Acer Aspire One on Sunday, and have actually been really impressed with it. I have even been using it as my main computer. When I am at home I just dock it up with a 22" monitor and my wireless keyboard/mouse. I would have loved to wait for an Apple product in this price range, but I needed something quick. Its great for my current uses: video chat in Skype, working with OpenOffice, playing music, and inputting grades. There is definately a market for this type of laptop, as they are obviously great for portability.

 

[Piplodocus]

I'd have thought in these times of "worsening economic conditions" people would want to spend money on more useful things like REAL laptops or desktops, not a toy-like notebook. Sure these work for some people but if it's "worsening economic conditions" then people won't be buying extra computers for all their kids, or 2nd sub-notebooks they don't need.

Sure this isn't true for ALL users (as I'm sure some of you will argue), but a decent Macbook or iMac (or new mini?), depending on required portability, coupled with an iphone beat the sub-notebook hands down in functionality and portable email/web respectively. I just don't see anyone using a sub-notebook as their main computer, and I for one can only afford 1 decent computer as well as paying my mortgage in these times!

To back this up I actually decided not to buy an iphone for £160 2 weeks ago because I can better justify the coming macbook pro's at circa £2k on credit!

 

[137489]

I hope Apple holds true to their long-standing philosophy of "we don't sell junk". A big part of the Apple lure is the high end luxury aspect of their products. To own an Apple product it own something of the likes of a Rolex, or BMW. It's something you can feel proud of, something you can hold and say "I earned this." ...Something you can be passionate about. I can't and never will feel passion for a Dell, HP, or the like.

Back to my original point, I hope Apple doesn't cheapen their line for the sake of market gain. If they were to become just another cheap commodity, that would be a damn shame. I hope Apple knows that it's not all about OS X.

I would like to expand on your comment a bit. I will not pick on Apple, as I am a recent switcher and never had a problem; however I have read enough posts to know that people have had their share of issues. For this post, I would just like to stick to hardware and leave the OSX vs. Windows out for now.

Here is my fear with these cheap notebooks ($300-$400 range). Yes, this price range and portability is exactly what our lifestyles and economy needs (I have a real feeling people are not going to be buying any $1,000 computers soon in the next few months - especially after the speeches and activity of this month....), but.....

To me these cheap notebooks are just throw-aways. What I mean by that is if they break, you just throw them away and buy another, it would cost you more to try to get it fixed.

I do have a major issue with where the whole computer industry is headed. As we move toward smaller and less expensive computers; I can't help but to notice how quality is suffering. I went to an office store recently (they don't sell macs, no longer sell Toshiba's). All of the laptops on display, with the exception of HP seemed cheap (maybe HP is cheap also, but I am just going by what was on display). When typing the keyboard sagged in one corner, the plastic was really thin and I could easily crack (in fact one of the display machines had a crack where the top and side panels met just above the expansion card slot).

Some of the keynoards felt like I was typing on marshmellows. It was so mushy and unresponsive.

My mom had a saying that "haste makes waste". With the way computer companies are rushing these out the door, and how cheap these are, I just wonder where quality is. Even as back as 5 years ago, you could buy a $1000 - $2000 range (average $1000-$1500) desktop or laptop and they felt solid. Also parts did not seem to break as quickly. I remember only replacing parts because I wanted to upgrade, not because it was broken.

Now it seems like hard drives crash every 5 months to 1 year. screens go dim, lose pixels, etc every 3-4 years (sometimes sooner, Dell laptops are notorious for blowing the LCD in a 1 -2 year timeframe).

I agree Apple needs to enter this market to stay competative and from what little I hear, Snow Leopard's reduced hard drive consumption will fit nicely - but please stick to quality made machines.

 

[a456]

With economic conditions worsening, Apple better do something with its prices across the board.

Drop the price of the basic MacBook to $799, updated Mini to $499, and the basic iMac to $899 for starters... and come out with a sub-note for $599...

The problem is that once they start bringing prices down, they get caught in the same frenzy as other PC manufacturers. And if they're OS and software is increasingly written for budget machines, then high-end innovative features are going to be stalled. iLife, for example, can only be as demanding on system resources as the lowest spec available Mac, it's no good bundling software that crunches away - and so they won't be able to expand the suite very far. Apple, like Sony, have to stand firm and continue to supply long-lasting quality machines. In fact, it is probably time Apple licensed OS X to Sony.

 

[Abstract]

I'm sure Apple will address the netbook market, question is whether that's in the next few weeks or next year.

Personally i can see room for a netbook from Apple, targeted at Students which is traditional clamshell, but folds over into a tablet and runs in an iphone style UI when in that mode and a key feature will be ebooks.

Expect a $100 premium on other netbooks, but will blow the competition away.

The problem is that Apple releases things that Steve would use. If Steve doesn't like the idea, Apple won't do it. It has been like that for nearly a decade. He's stubborn. It's not what his customers want that matters, because he was quoted as saying (forget when) that customers don't know what they want, so we show them what they want. It's similar to that famous Henry Ford quote, "If I'd asked people what they wanted, they would have asked for a better horse." Don't ask customers what they want, because if you ask, they'll always ask for the same thing, but better. That's not how innovators work.

Steve justified the MBA's 13" size by saying he doesn't see the point of tiny screens, cramped keyboards, etc. He didn't see the point, and he probably doesn't see the point now.

Think about what happened when the music industry demanded that Apple offer sale prices, and raise the price of new albums/songs. Same with their TV shows. Music companies threatened to leave the iTMS, NBC did leave, etc etc.

I think people who want a 9" or 10" Apple netbook will be waiting for awhile.

 

[wheelhot]

Aaah, okay, so it seems there is market for this.

I doubt Apple would release a netbook. MacBook Mini? Lol

Oh yea, it seems a lot of people seem to be complaining about OSX mobile cannot run a few programs at once, but like Apple says, it will SLOW DOWN your phone, its a compromise, but hey, if you like your phone to run as slow as WM, go and get a WM phone instead.

 

[kornyboy]

Wirelessly posted (iPhone: Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; U; CPU iPhone OS 2_1 like Mac OS X; en-us) AppleWebKit/525.18.1 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/3.1.1 Mobile/5F136 Safari/525.20)

I expect Apple will probably drop the price on the upcoming line. I suspect the MacBook will run you around $800 still.

 

[DaBrain]

This would be pointless, I feel. That means all Mac OS Xdevelopers would have to recompile to run on ARM. It would be another architecture to support. The beauty of Atom is that it's instruction set compatible with x86.

I think the appeal is a full Mac OS X mini laptop.

arn

I totally agree! I tried out an eee pc when they first came out. I just could not handle the 7 inch screen with my eye sight and linux is cool but a pain in the dupa at times to install programs etc... However if Apple put out something similar to the MSI Wind with the same LED backlit screen and with a full OSX that I don't have to hack I'd be all over it, IF the even if price was 100 - 200 above the MSI. Using the eee was cool but I really missed OSX.

What I don't understand is why Apple is so far behind the curve in coming out with a device like this. There is and has been a huge demand for this!

To the guy that stated he considers the iphone as Apples netbook, I say get real! How is it that you fail to mention the $1,500 to $2,000 2 year contract fee?
A net book certainly does not have that!

 

[sinisterdesign]

there will be a low cost, entry level laptop introduced next month. not sure how cheap & whether or not it would be considered a "netbook" or not, though.

 

[DHUK]

I think Steve Jobs got it wrong with the Macbook Air. Don't bite me, it's a great laptop but when people want a small laptop they can carry around with ease, these Netbooks are ideal. I have a MSI Wind and it's the computer I use the most when I'm not at work. My sister was considering a Mac to use when travelling around Australia, it was painful, but she went with the MSI Wind in the end because it was very light, small and above all cheap.

I'm not that fussed about the screen size - all I want to do is browse the web, upload a few photos and do a spot of word processing.

Apple could do no wrong if they released a Netbook next month. They certainly have a great OS to go on it.

 

[teme]

The problem is that Apple releases things that Steve would use. If Steve doesn't like the idea, Apple won't do it. It has been like that for nearly a decade. He's stubborn. It's not what his customers want that matters, because he was quoted as saying (forget when) that customers don't know what they want, so we show them what they want. It's similar to that famous Henry Ford quote, "If I'd asked people what they wanted, they would have asked for a better horse." Don't ask customers what they want, because if you ask, they'll always ask for the same thing, but better. That's not how innovators work.

Steve justified the MBA's 13" size by saying he doesn't see the point of tiny screens, cramped keyboards, etc. He didn't see the point, and he probably doesn't see the point now.

Think about what happened when the music industry demanded that Apple offer up sales, and raise the price of new albums to a higher fee. Same with their TV shows. Music companies threatened to leave the iTMS, NBC did leave, etc etc.

I think people who want a 9" or 10" Apple netbook will be waiting for awhile.

I mostly agree. If Apple would like to get better market share, there are lots of things they could do to rise their market share through the roof. But I think Apple doesn't really want that. They want to stay in the luxury category and keep their expensive image. It hurts their market share, but their current business model works, and they have no troubles financially.

I'd like to get more affordable Macs, because my latest laptop purchase was Windows PC... I really wanted MBP, but it was over $1000 more expensive than Windows PC with similar hardware specs.

The netbook market would be perfect for switchers - it's affordable solution to try OS X while keeping Windows PC as a main computer... and if customer likes OS X, the next main computer will probably be Mac as well.

 

[dontwalkhand]

I plan on buying an ASUS eee PC with Linux to supplement my iMac and iPhone for school purposes. If Apple comes out with one soon, I rather choose it!

 

[Abstract]

I myself have been looking at the HP mini 2133. 1.2 Processor/2GB ram/120 HD and they can come in OS-LINUX under $500. Check ebay.

http://h10010.www1.hp.com/wwpc/us/en/sm/WF25a/321957-321957-64295-321838-306995-3687084.html

They've updated it, but haven't (officially) told anyone yet. Just wait a few weeks. I don't know if they switched to the Atom, or if they're not using the VIA Nano (which is better than the Intel Atom overall, IMO).

They're on eBay because they're slow - much slower that the Atom.

That's because the current HP uses the VIA C7. If it was using the newer CPU, VIA Nano, it would be 1.5x to 2x faster than the Intel Atom. And when the processor is idle, it uses less power than the Atom. The only issue with the VIA Nano that when both the Nano and Atom are running at full speed, the VIA Nano uses significantly more power (relatively speaking).

However, this problem has been exaggerated in reviews. Most of the time, you're not running the processor at full speed. That would never happen when you surf the net, email, listen to music, type a document, etc. Furthermore, the VIA will get heavy-duty tasks much much faster, so it will definitely use more power when it's running at full speed, but it'll also finish the job faster and sit at idle. The Intel Atom would be using less power to get the job done, but would have to run at full speed for a longer time.

The VIA would be much faster for general use, and it would only consume a tiny bit more power. Just my opinion though.

 

[cleanup]

I just purchased an Acer Aspire One yesterday to replace my MacBook. Although the premise of a forthcoming Apple netbook is really cool, I don't think it'll come out in the upcoming product release (mid-October or whatever). Even if it does, I foresee it being at least $599, and that puts it above all other netbook prices. At these price points, a $100 increase over even the most expensive netbooks (those being the higher end Eee PCs and the Wind) can make a huge difference... basically 20-25% more cash for the same thing, just so it can run OS X. For a lot of us, that's worth it; knowing that we're getting an operating system we like and Apple quality.. but for many others, it's a deal breaker.

Personally, my Acer cost me only $399 and it has a gig of RAM, a 120 GB hard drive and a 6-cell battery that can last 6 and a half hours. And believe it or not, it's actually kind of speedier than my MacBook. It definitely boots faster. The OS X desktop would load excruciatingly slow on my MacBook. XP is quite fast on my Acer once I get rid of all the bloatware and startup programs.

The thing is also significantly more portable than my MacBook - the primary reason I got it.

I think Apple has created a problem for itself in the price of the iPhone and iPod touch. They're low enough to be appealing and yet high enough to compete with an ultramobile computer, and confusing enough to be perceived as an ultramobile computer. I mean, the 16GB iPod touch is only $50-100 cheaper than some of the mid-range netbooks, many of which either come with an 80GB hard drive or a 16GB SSD drive. And then, it will seem that the jump in price from netbook to full-on laptop (MacBook) will be a bit much. With the 16 and 32 GB iPod touches at $299 and $399, and the iPhone at only $199 if you're with a AT&T/Rogers/Fido, I can see Apple either dropping prices on their touchscreen devices or raising the price of their netbook to the point where it won't be nearly as appealing to the common non-Mac-OS-X consumer as other brands.

 

[highjumppudding]

if apple is desperate and/or sees a long term advantage to releasing this sort of product, they will do it.

 

[freediverdude]

To me, the real netbooks are the ones with the 2-4-8gb flash memory for the $299 or even less price tag. That was the whole point of the netbook, was ultra-cheap and just enough memory and power to do some basic things. But the last year the manufacturers have turned the netbook into basically a regular laptop with a smaller screen for $500. In my opinion, something with a 160gb hard drive and 1 gb ram isn't a netbook.

 

[Evangelion]

I'd have thought in these times of "worsening economic conditions" people would want to spend money on more useful things like REAL laptops or desktops, not a toy-like notebook.

What exactly makes you think that netbooks are "toylike" and not useful? The way I see it, they are VERY useful indeed!

Now, I have a MacBook Pro. And it's a gorgerous machine. But it has a 15" screen, making it pretty hard to carry around. Not to mention the fact that carrying a 2000e worth of hardware with me is.... scary. Having a tiny 299e-399e laptop that I could take with me wherever I go would be just about perfect.

Sure this isn't true for ALL users (as I'm sure some of you will argue), but a decent Macbook or iMac (or new mini?), depending on required portability, coupled with an iphone beat the sub-notebook hands down in functionality and portable email/web respectively.

How come? Macbooks are way bigger than netbooks. And as far as email and web-surfing goes, it doesn't really offer anything extra over netbooks. Netbooks can display websites just fine, the extra screen on the MacBook does nothing to help there.

Add to that the fact that even MacBook is so big and expensive that I would have to think twice about carrying it with me,

I just don't see anyone using a sub-notebook as their main computer

They are not meant to be your main computer.

 

[Abstract]

To me, the real netbooks are the ones with the 2-4-8gb flash memory for the $299 or even less price tag. That was the whole point of the netbook...

In my opinion, something with a 160gb hard drive and 1 gb ram isn't a netbook.

Agreed. When I get a netbook, I'm going to buy one with a solid state drive. I'm definitely going to skip the regular harddrive.

The EeePC 1000 (not the 1000H) has a 40 GB SSD. Awesome. It's a good price for that size of SSD, since they're usually so expensive. And what can't I do with a 40 GB harddisk? If I'm just taking this thing on the road with me to do some computing on the go, why would I need all the RAW files from my Nikon D300, or all my music files? It would be nice to have if it all fit, but if it doesn't, I have a regular laptop for better performance. My old 12" PowerBook only had 40 GB, and I was fine for 3 years.

Can't wait to see the new HP model, and the Toshiba. I may go with the Wind though due to its OSX86 potential., but only if someone can fix some of the small issues.

 

[supremedesigner]

10" is tiny! The 13" screen on my MacBook strains my eyes after 30 minutes so would hate to have to use a 10" MacBook.

I can't even stand with less than 10'' to 14'' screen. I'd rather have 19" or 20" MBP (Yes... Macbook Pro) b/c there is a laptop that have 19" and that'd be sweet!

It's not too surprising to me, I use an MSI Wind as my primary computer -- I guess you could call my iPod touch my secondary computer . All I did was upgrade the memory from 1GB to 2GB and upgrade the wireless card from 802.11g to 802.11a/g/n to better suit my hardware needs. I paid $375 after the Microsoft Live Search Discount for the machine itself.

But even with the 1.6GHz Atom processor, it serves all of my daily needs while running Windows XP Home SP3: Google Chrome/Firefox 3.0, Word 2007/Excel 2007, Photoshop CS3, and iTunes. I use other apps every once in a while, but these are the main ones I use.

Most of the time, my MSI Wind is sitting on my desk hooked up to my USB hub, 250GB external HDD, and 22" monitor. When it's not on my desk, the keyboard is a blast to use and the 10" LED-backlit display is gorgeous. I usually have a Bluetooth mouse with me for extended use away from my desk.

My only complaint: the 3-cell battery isn't enough; I'm waiting on MSI to release the 6-cell as a separate option.

I guess I've gotten to the point with computers where I don't care about outspec'ing the next person -- I just want something that works and is affordable.

Does it run Crysis? I bet not